Get ready for Metaverse Fashion Week

Get ready for virtual fashion week. In the metaverse. Hosted by Decentraland, the inaugural fashion week will be held on its platform next March, just after the IRL catwalks presentations finish in the major fashion cities of Paris, Milan and London and New York.

Decentraland is partnering with UNXD to host the event, a curated marketplace for digital culture, better known to fashion insiders as the company that recently hosted Dolce & Gabbana’s first NFT clothing collection.

In separate Tweets Decentraland and UNXD called on all designers, brands and fashionistas to a week of pop-up shops, catwalk shows, after-parties and immersive experiences, launching the hashtag #mvfw2022.

Why fashion in the metaverse is gaining traction

Virtual land on Decentraland’s Fashion District recently sold for 2.4 million dollars and according to Market Insider the business of digital fashion in the metaverse is estimated to be valued at 1 trillion dollars per year.

Luxury fashion brands from Gucci to Balenciaga have been dabbling with digital collections and partnerships with online gaming companies such as Roblox, Fortnite, dressing avatars and selling NFTs.

“We think the Fashion District purchase is like buying on Fifth Avenue back in the 1800s … or the creation of Rodeo Drive,” Lorne Sugarman, the CEO of Metaverse Group, the company that brokered the Fashion District land sale, told Business Insider.

The metaverse has seen a flurry of fashion activity in recent months. Fashion businesses are seizing opportunities in an environment generated by the convergence of virtual worlds, augmented reality and internet services and focussing on immersive virtual experiences and digital collections.